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Thought I'd get a thread going for the upcoming TAR Canada season that will start airing on July 15th. Please post all spoilers and episode threads in here as I'm not sure if it'll be busy enough to warrant separate threads.

The host and the first two teams have been announced with the rest to come by Thursday.

Host: Jon Montgomery, gold medallist in the 2010 Olympics in the skeleton.

We start off with teams in Whirlpool Jet boats at the bottom of Niagara Falls and meet each of the teams.

Early guess for 'villain' of the season? Brett of the doctors team or Jet/Dave.

Jon starts his Phil-esque spiel ... this race will be 23,000 km in length. There will be an Express Pass to the winner of the first leg with a second one granted to another team of their choice.

We're now in downtown Niagara Falls. Teams pick up their bags and clues then take a car to the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory. Search the flight area of the butterfly conservatory for your next clue which are inside cages where teams will have to face their fears (i.e. spiders, snakes, rats etc. Both members of the team have to reach in to get an envelope each), which contains plane tickets to their next destination - Kelowna, BC.

Treena and Ten only grabbed one of the clues, they were supposed to grab both ... this could be trouble for them. Another team did the same - didn't recognize who it was.

Now at Pearson Airport in Toronto and all of the teams are there scrumming for tickets. Two flights to Kelowna - one group leaving at 5:00 pm and another leaving at 6:00 pm. After getting tickets, we see teams mingling with each other with the gay cowboys and Body Break being the most popular ones to chat with so far.

Now in Kelowna. They have to get their next clue at the Blue Bear statue. They are to go to the lakefront and rent a water craft. We see the Mitic brothers trapped in the airport as they were lagging behind the other teams due to Jody's prostheses and ended up at a locked door that wouldn't open.

Jody and Cory are still trapped at the airport. "Security Alert! Security Alert!" Finally, somebody comes by to unlock the door and let them through.

Now at the Lakefront Water Sports kiosk and teams take a number to determine who goes in which order. It's late at night, so we've got a bunching point until 8 am and teams hang out on a houseboat to wait it out. Treen and Ten are not only last at this junction but they also didn't follow the clue back at the butterfly conservatory - trouble.

Roadblock - Dive for Ogopogo! Ride jetskis to a docking station and go underwater to look for a statue of the legendary lake monster, Ogopogo, in Lake Okanagan.

Vanessa's in full panic mode... eventually decides to stay down and finds the clue.

Now at the provincial park. Roadblock - Walk the Plank. The team member that didn't do the dive must do this one where they have to walk a rather shaky steel plank to the very end over a deep ravine to get their next clue.

Jody/Cory and Treen/Ten are the last two teams at this point, just now leaving on the jetskis.

The steel planks look really nervy, they're shaking side by side as they walk to the very end. Definitely tougher-looking than the dive to the Ogopogo statue one.

After getting the clue, the team member then have to jump down to the bottom of the ravine with a harness. Clue tells them to head over to the pit stop located at Quail's Gate Winery, an 150-year-old estate right by Lake Okanagan in Kelowna.

Tim Sr. has Parkinson's disease... and he's the one who has to go out onto the plank. Not going to be fun for him ... but he does it!

Now it's Celina's turn to go into major meltdown mode, bawling while going down from the plank.

Treen/Ten and the cowboys seem to be lost, going around and around the lake. After a long while, they finally get to the docking station to do the first roadblock. Clearly the last two at this point.

Jody manages to navigate down the plank with his prostheses and does it!

First at the pit stop is ... Team Dread! Kristen and Darren win the Express Passes - one for themselves and one to give to another team - and two tickets from Air Canada to Sydney, Australia. Plus they get to sample some of the local wine.

Team number two are the doctors, Brett and Holly.

Last two teams now arriving at the second roadblock to walk the plank.

Arriving at the same time, Hal and Joanne are team number three while Jet and Dave are team number four.

Fifth to arrive at the pit stop are the Timmies. They get a 30 minute penalty for only picking up one of the clues at the butterfly conservatory.

Jon explained again that both team members were supposed to grab a clue at the butterfly conservatory.

Vanessa and Celina arrive 6th and are told they're team number 5 because of the penalty to the Timmies. One of them says "suckers".

Timmies' time penalty is up and they're team number 6.

Team number 7 are the Mitic brothers.

We've got a sprint to the mat! Treena/Ten are the eighth to arrive but they get the 30 minute penalty. Cowboys officially become team number 8 and Treen/Ten are Jonliminated (humm, doesn't have the same ring to it as 'Philiminated').

Vanessa and Celina? I hope your "suckers" cheap shot comes back to bite you in the a$$es.

Quite an enjoyable show, though I must admit that staying in Canada gives teams some serious home field advantage in certain provinces. But Canada is a great country, so very enjoyable scenery (and places I would certainly want to visit!)

Indeed, I enjoyed watching this episode - it's really something to see them experiencing places that I'm familiar with.

Interestingly enough, I went back and looked at the hometowns of each of the contestants and checked the route, and none of the contestants are from any of the places on the route (the closest is Hal/Joanne being from Oakville but the route passed through from Niagara Falls to Toronto's airport).

I found it very formulaic. There was absolutely no interaction with the locals and very few between the teams themselves. It was just "go there, do that". Then again, that's what TAR has mostly become also.

I'm not surprised there isn't much interaction with the locals - considering they're racing in their own country, it's not nearly the same as traveling in a foreign country and having the language barrier to deal with in trying to figure out clues. IIRC, TAR-Family Edition didn't have a whole lot of interaction with the locals as well and tended to be out more in no-man's-land.

I wouldn't bet on much use of taxis in this season, either, with the emphasis on drive-your-own-way or trains/planes.

RDS, the French equivalent of TSN, is showing the first episode of TAR at this moment with French subtitles. It's strange to see...Don't think it will get the ratings considering there are no French racers.

..was a non-elimination leg. Funniest thing was that Blackberry seemed proud to advertise: "This non-elimination leg was brought to you by Blackberry."

The Tims were saved from elimination.

They mentioned the flood in Calgary which happened after filming and how to help. Montgomery is slowly loosening up. The doctoprs argued with the Hippies who went against their word and gave the express pass to the two girls instead.

Brett and Holly first to leave and we’re going to Calgary! Too bad my brother and I didn’t make it onto the show as we would have had such a “hometown” advantage with all the places visited in this episode.

Kristen and Darren had to make a decision in this episode about who to give the extra Express Pass. Originally they had agreed with a small group in the first episode that whoever wins it would give the extra pass to whomever finishes in second place, which were Holly and Brett.

You know what’s coming, don’t you? After Darren mumbled something about wanting to be true to their word, they ended up giving the pass to Vanessa/Celina.

Right on cue, as if we needed a reminder of why Darren/Kristen felt they couldn’t trust Holly/Brett… at the airport, Holly/Brett hid all of the Alberta maps in one of the stores so other teams couldn’t find them.

Now in Calgary. Clue: Find a statue of the legendary Calgary rodeo bull named Outlaw to find their next clue. Wonder how many of the teams immediately thought of going to Stampede Park to find the statue? Nope, Outlaw isn’t there, wouldn’t have been a bad guess but going there would have cost a good 10-15 minutes.

After getting the clue at the statue, we’re off to Ranchman’s. Roadblock: “Get In Line,” which required one team member to learn a traditional country western line dance. There’s an Anderson Cooper look-alike who is judging the competition and he seems like a particularly tough judge. Jody/Cory said they were there for over 3 hours – “Anderson Cooper is so hard core!”

Brett is maddeningly annoying – repeatedly saying “Hol, just try to relax/focus” in a manner befitting a five year old being lectured to by a parent.

There’s a spat between Kristen and Brett as they discussed the Express pass – Brett said that his word would have meant something and he would have honoured the second place finishers if the shoe was on the other foot, and Kristen went into a snit saying how dare he insult them as their word do mean something! Uhmm, Kristen, you guys did go back on your word, no? Shut up.

Plenty of teams are having big-time trouble with the line dance routine – nobody seems to have aced it quickly other than Dave who had the advantage of being a former cheerleading national champion and Vanessa who did it in a reasonable time.

Hal and Joanne are the first to finish and clue tells them to go to the Hoodoos in the Drumheller area. This can only mean … a visit to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum!

Detour: “Lump by Lump” (shovel a load of coal onto four carts) or “Bone by Bone” (see a life-size replica of a dinosaur, assemble a model of it from memory).

Hal and Joanne chose “Lump by Lump” and Joanne commented, “This is a great workout. Upper body, lower body, no wonder the coal miners are fit.” Only these two would say something like that.

As usual, the sisters got lost and went north on the highway when they should have been going east to Drumheller. They eventually got to Drumheller and also did the “Lump by Lump”. Hey ladies? It would have been much easier to put the coal ONTO the wheelbarrow to carry to the carts, instead of tossing them right over the wheelbarrow, no? And try toting more than ¼ of a shovelful at a time to go faster. They ultimately ended up doing it hand by hand at one point.

Hal and Joanne finished their coal-piling Detour a good distance of time ahead of the other teams and the final clue tells them to go to Horsethief Canyon for the Pit Stop.

Kristen and Darren loaded up their coal but were told their cart was not ready for hauling, not realizing they hadn’t correctly hung up the key tags on the side of the car.

Back at Ranchman’s, Jody finally did his dance routine and Tim Sr. took 9 tries to finally accomplish the routine.

Holly and Brett did the “Bone by Bone” at the museum, figuring their anatomy backgrounds would help them assemble the model dinosaur. Easy, right? Oh no, of course not! More Holly freak-outs and more “Hol, just stay calm” bleatings from Brett.

Vanessa and Celina, surprisingly, got lost looking for Horsethief Canyon. Meanwhile, Jet and Dave prove they’re dumber than a bag of hammers.

At the pit stop:

1. Hal and Joanne – win two tickets to anywhere Air Canada flies in the USA.2. Kristen and Darren3. Jet and Dave4. Vanessa and Celina5. Jody and Cory6. Holly and Brett7. Timmies – non-elimination leg, they’ll have to do a Speed Bump next episode.

Next week… we’re heading up to Yellowknife and one of the things they`ll be doing is a polar bear dip through ice. Fun!

From the pit stop mat at Horsethief Canyon in Drumheller… we’re off to Yellowknife, NT. Once there, drive to the Bush Pilot Monument. Hal/Joanne is first to leave at 2:10 am. Good luck to Jet/Dave as they didn’t pack any warm clothing. Sisters cut in front of a long lineup at the airport, ahead of some of the other teams, and they just painted a rather target on their backs. All 7 teams are on the same flight at 6:00 am, going from Calgary to Edmonton to Yellowknife.

I like how they’re able to keep teams in the dark during the pit stop rest period (presumably 12 hours as is usual on the US version of TAR) as all of the other teams were surprised to see the Timmies still in the race, thinking they had been eliminated the previous leg.

Clue at Bush Pilot’s Monument: Make your way to the Government Dock and walk onto the ice on the Great Slave Lake. Many teams got lost, despite the dock being across the street from the monument.

Roadblock: “Polar Bear Dip” in the frozen Great Slave Lake! Holly, Cory, Hal, Dave, Tim Jr., Celina and Darren are the ones doing the jump into the lake. Cory jumps in and gets out so quickly, forgetting he has to pick up the clue along the way, so he repeats the jump, but not before he’s cut in line by Tim Jr. and there’s a tiny little brouhaha going on as we cut to commercial.

After we come back, the crowd is booing at the line-cutting and Tim Jr. immediately backs off and lets Cory take his turn.

After the ice jump, the clue tells them to find the Duchess at Carcross – teams are to take a short flight on three bush planes to find a cabin in Carcross, Yukon Territory. Cory makes the boneheaded move of signing up for Flight 3 when there was an open spot on Flight 2, and Hal/Joanne says thanks for the shortcut.

In the time-honoured tradition of TAR, both Vanessa and Celina run right past the signup sheet for the flights. How are these two still alive in this race after being lost so many times and half-assing their way through some challenges without much whining?

After a while, Jody and Cory go up to Hal/Joanne and say they benefitted from the brothers’ mistake and would they consider switching? Ironically, Hal and Joanne had gotten lost and wondered where the signup sheet was, and Cory pointed it out to them so he felt Hal/Joanne owed them something for that. (Meanwhile, I’m screaming, NO! Cory made the mistake and he should have to pay for it.) Cut to commercial...

After we come back, Hal said no it’s part of the game and that’s the way it is. Good call. Potentially huge move as the other two teams on the third flight with Jody/Cory both have express passes.

The Duchess turns out to be a steam locomotive. Detour: Klondike supply rush (build a raft and navigate a river to get the clue) or Yukon gold rush (do three traditional pioneer activities: long-sawing a log, hitting a target by throwing an axe {sproing!}, ride a wheelbarrow and pick up gold nuggets while being pushed by a blindfolded partner). I didn’t know that pushing a wheelbarrow while blindfolded was ‘traditional’.

Speed Bump for the Timmies – find an old typewriter with a poem by Robert Service called “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and memorize it to recite to the locals (who are quickly getting hammered on the local brew) including a man pretending to be the old poet himself. Took a few tries but the Timmies managed to get the whole poem recited.

Next clue is to ride ATVs to Carcross Desert (they really should have named it ‘Carcass Desert’) for the pit stop.

Sisters decide to use the express pass to skip the final task.

Jody, the one-time sniper, takes a long time to succeed with the axe-throwing.

Darren/Kristen are on the raft and now muttering they should have used their express pass.

Jody/Cory now have their clue while Darren/Kristen are not far behind them. The prostheses could really come into play here as there’s a little run to the pit stop.

At the pit stop:1. Jet/Dave – win a trip for two to Cancun, Mexico.2. Holly/Brett3. Hal/Joanne4. Vanessa/Celina – fourth team to arrive, but don’t have their bags with them. Gotta go back and get them. Made it back to still finish in fourth, barely ahead of ...5. The Timmies6. Jody/Cory – the goof of booking the wrong flight almost cost them in a big way.7. Kristen/Darren – the goof of not using their express pass cost them dearly here. I hope they can find a nice frame for it on the wall at home.

Next week... we’re in Regina, SK. Get buried by lentils in a bin and get drilled by the RCMP.

We're reminded once again of Darren and Kristen's stupidity in not guaranteeing themselves of continuing in the game by getting booted with an express pass in hand.

Now in Whitehorse, Yukon. Beautiful scenery. The opening clue tells the teams to make their way alongside the river to the S.S. Klondike, a steamboat. Warning, U-turn is coming up.

Once the teams find the clue on the steamboat, the next clue tells them to fly to Regina, Saskatchewan. Jet/Dave decide to call two cabs, one for themselves and one for Brett/Holly, developing a new alliance to help them stay at the top.

At the airport, teams find out they'll have to stay overnight in either Edmonton or Calgary to get to Regina the next morning. The Edmonton-to-Regina flight filled up quickly for a couple teams and forced the remainder to do the Calgary-to-Regina route arriving a little later. Hal worked the phones and figured out a way to arrive in Calgary, then once there arrange a flight to Edmonton in order to get into Regina at the same time as the earlier Edmonton-to-Regina teams. None of the other teams figured out how Hal/Joanne got some extra tickets.

Jody really looks a lot more uncomfortable with his prostheses now than he did earlier in the race.

Once in Regina, teams get into Chevrolet Tracks and find a Blackberry inside, at which point they meet up with the parking attendant to download their next route instructions. Product placements galore! Clue tells them to go to the Sascan Pulse Trading Company, the largest lentil splitting company in the world and second largest producer of lentils, and dig through a sea of lentils to find two Sergeant Bullmoose toys that have their next clue on them. These lentil truck bins are HUGE, it'll take a long time to find the toys. I hope these lentils aren't being used for food after these guys all are sweating mightily in there...

Jet/Dave are the first to find the bullmoose toys and they're to go to the RCMP Heritage Centre. It's a roadblock and one team member must get into uniform and make a bed - the whole room unit must meet the exacting standards of a RCMP drill sergeant to pass inspection. There's quite a few items to be sorted out.

Back at the lentil bins, the Timmies and Vanessa/Celina find their toys and are off. Holly's whining again and Brett's doing his soothing bit again.

Back at the RCMP building. Teams are discussing the penalties they got.

Jet inspection #5 ... PASS!

Clue tells them to go to the "I Love Regina" sign where they'll be greeted by an Ukrainian dance troupe. Jet and Dave discuss U-turning Hal/Joanne.

Joanne inspection #1 ... FAIL.Brett inspection #1 ... FAIL.

We go back to the lentil bins... Cory finally finds a toy and they head off.

Jet and Dave do a brief dance with the dance troupe and get their next clue to head to Taylor Field at Mosaic Stadium, home of the Roughriders football team.

Detour: Brawn (while in uniform, do a series of football drills under former QB Khari Jones plus one must catch a pass and the other kick a FG) or Beauty (learn a choreographed routine and perform with the cheerleaders).

Joanne inspection #3 ... PASS.Brett inspection #3 ... PASS.

Joanne and Hal are just ahead and they say they have to u-turn Brett/Holly since both have the penalty.

Tim Sr. passes inspection and moves on.

Jet/Dave start their drills, not off to a good start so far - if they miss the catch, got to go back and do it over again.

Celina passes inspection on the fifth try, leaving Jody/Cory as the last team still at the RCMP building.

Hal/Joanne and Brett/Holly neck to neck with the Timmies not far behind.

Jet catches a pass on his second attempt. Dave is up to kick the FG, says he was a kicker in school. Does it on the first attempt.

Make your way to the luxury box between sections 26 and 27, which is where teams will find their next clue and also an U-turn box. Jet/Dave decide not to U-turn anyone.

From there, drive yourself to Pine Island on Lake Wescana to find Jon at the pit stop.

Jody passes inspection right off the bat - being a military guy himself helped.

Holly whines again after failing on her first try to get up onto Brett's shoulders. Stick a cork in it, huh.

Hal catches a pass on his first try. Joanne just misses on her first try at the extra point, line-driving a kick low under the crossbar.

Timmies accomplish both parts of the pass-and-kick challenge. They decide to U-turn Hal and Joanne.

Joanne misses her catch, so they have to go back and start over for the third time.

Jet/Dave finishes first at the pit stop and win a trip to anywhere they want in Canada via Air Canada.

Vanessa and Celina do the Beauty portion. Struggling as well in practice.

Brett and Holly now making their first attempt with the routine ... and it's a fail.

Joanne catches the pass, but Hal can't convert the kick.

Holly and Brett now on attempt #6.

Hal and Joanne finally makes it, and in short order, so does Holly and Brett. Hal and Joanne appears to have a couple of minutes head start on Holly and Brett, certainly a crucial moment in the race to see who can get to the U-turn box first.

Hal/Joanne makes it inside first... so they get to U-turn Brett and Holly in the nick of time. So who's got the advantage here? Brett/Holly doing Brawn or Hal/Joanne doing Beauty? Cue the waterworks from Holly.

Timmies finish as team number 2. They explain that Hal/Joanne are extremely strong challengers so they felt they had to U-turn them.

Hal notes that Holly is going to be 'dead'. She whines that she can hardly run ... but she manages to catch the pass! Brett then completes the extra point, and off they go. Hal and Joanne are left watching them run off and Brett/Holly remarks they just beat the fitness pair at sports.

Celina/Vanessa completes the cheerleading routine and they're off.

Jody catches the pass and Cory completes the PAT.

Brett/Holly are the third team to arrive and have a 2-hour penalty to sit out.

Vanessa/Celina are team number 3.

Jody/Cory are team number 4.

Hal and Joanne are still struggling with the Beauty part of the detour.

Gorgeous scenery, thought whiny doctor had done in her team, good for her to do the physical task so well, the passes to the female/old contestants seemed a little less difficult to me, the soldier really rocked the uniform task. I was surprised at the time it took to get from Whitehorse to Regina according to the clock over muscleboy's shoulder it was 09:20 when they were told that 08:25 was the earliest they could get there.

Although if you put me in a container full of lentils and told me to find two small cuddly toys I would show you proper whinging

Yeah I'd think there would be only one flight a day from Whitehorse to certain locations - Whitehorse isn't exactly a bustling tourist attraction or a business trip locale.

It seems that all flights went from Whitehorse to Vancouver, and then teams were split between going from Vancouver to Edmonton to Regina and the Vancouver to Calgary to Regina flights. The Edmonton one got in 45 minutes earlier than the Calgary one, but the former filled up quickly with two teams (I believe) on it, forcing the other four to take the latter. Hal and Joanne were the only ones to figure out that they could get into Calgary, then arrange a short flight to Edmonton in order to catch the earlier flight to Regina (can't believe that none of the other three thought of this!).

I decided to take a look around on the Air Canada website to see what kind of flights are available from Whitehorse (never know if I'd like to go there one day!).

There are only two flights a day that go from Whitehorse to Vancouver - 7:00 am (so they'd have missed that one since they got to the airport at 9-ish as you saw on TV) and 13:45.

The 13:45 flight to Vancouver arrives at 16:13 and there are several flights that goes to Edmonton (17:05, 20:10, 21:20 and 23:10), all have the next flight to Regina leaving at 06:00 and arriving at 07:36 as we saw. The Vancouver to Calgary flight would arrive more or less in the same time-frame as the Edmonton one, but there'd be plenty of time for Hal/Joanne to get up to Edmonton from Calgary as it's less than three hours from airport to airport (they could even have rented a car and driven up there if they had to!).

Real surprised there isn't a flight that goes directly from Whitehorse to Edmonton or Calgary. There isn't an option to fly to Yellowknife then on to Edmonton, either.

Good question about Greyhound, but since Air Canada is the main sponsor of the race, they probably could only limit themselves to using flights on this race. Too bad, taking the Rocky Mountaineer train would have been quite the visual experience.

Still in Saskatchewan - Regina to be specific. Fly to Quebec City and proceed to Levis Forts National Historic Site.

Jet and Dave are practicing their French, although it leaves something to be desired: "We want to be the mushroom of the race." (Note to the dunderheads... "champignons" doesn't translate to "champions" in English).

Teams have all night to veg out at Levis Forts, so Jet and Dave decide to prank the other teams by planting a fake clue to have the teams search in the cannons. Jody/Cory sprint around the fort in complete darkness, searching each of the cannons before Jet/Dave copped to the trick.

In the morning... proceed to the statue of Samuel de Champlain in front of the old Chateau Frontenac hotel. I was on that same ferry last year going from Levis to Vieux Quebec. Be interesting to see if the teams take the funicular up to the top or if they'll sprint through le Petit Champlain and climb the many steep stairs to the top.

... and the first two teams (Jet/Dave, sisters) take the funicular!

Detour - Sculpt it (create a replica ice sculpture of three possible designs) or Spot it (look at original mural, then put signs on a replica to match what's on the original). Teams run back down to Quartier Champlain via the stairs instead of taking the funicular.

Jody and Cory decide to do Spot It, sees the signs and says "It's in French." No kidding, Sherlock, you're in Quebec.

Road Block: Master the art of creating the perfect French crepe. Take an order, make it, plate it, then serve it perfectly. Dave's all tripped up - the ladies he picked out to serve are only ordering in French and he doesn't know the language! Girls repeating order over and over, Dave doesn't get it. Come on, "jambon" isn't hard to write down onto the order ticket even if you don't know it means 'ham'.

I'd love to do this crepe making challenge!

One small, itty bitty problem about cooking your crepe, Dave... you might want to turn on the crepe-maker first.

Timmies are not where they should be - I recognize the area where they're in now and it's not close at all!

Dave finishes the roadblock first. Make your way to Lacrosse Playing Field. Throw a few passes to each other then fire it at the net from a measured distance to score in order to get their clue.

Make your way to the pit stop at The Battlefields Park at the Plains of Abraham. Jet and Dave are first to arrive at the pit stop for the third time in a row and win a trip for two to anywhere in Europe. I now officially hate them - they said "Vive le Nordiques"! (arch enemies of the Habs)

Some of these teams are bad at lacrosse, merely the official national sport of Canada. It is not a skill to toss the lacrosse ball and have it bounce slowly into the net - they ought to have placed a 2x4 about fifteen feet away from the net and forced teams to get it into the air far enough.

All out sprint to the mat. Holly barely inches ahead of Jody, but they agree that it'll be a tie for second. Vanessa and Celina are decent enough at lacrosse. Big caption FAIL by TAR Canada as they had the sisters showing as "currently in 3rd place" when they'd actually be in fourth due to two teams tying for second. ... and Jon repeated the error at the pit stop by proclaiming Vanessa and Celina as 'team number three'. Argh! One, two, three teams ahead of V/C, simple math Jon!

Timmies arrive last, but are saved by a non-elimination. Speed bump next week, boys.

"I now officially hate them - they said "Vive le Nordiques"! (arch enemies of the Habs)"

The general feeling, here in Montréal, is that we would like to see the Nordiques back. It'd be much more fun to play them (and beat the crap out of them) than going to some of the US cities that have no fan base. It was also funny to see Michel Bergeron greeting the teams.

Jet and Dave are going to be tough to beat in the end. They could always have bad luck during a search task and I don't think they're smart enough to be safe on most mental tasks but they are way above the competition.

That fake clue trick was the first amusing moment of the race besides the usual gaffes that make us laugh. For once, there was time to show interactions between the teams. I wish they had kept up the charade until the girls arrived which was their original plan.

I found it quite a waste to have this be a non-elimination leg. It showed that CTV didn't want anyone eliminated because they didn't know French. Bastards!

- Brutal leg. Pretty much the entire leg was a dash of some sort through the snow and ice, and believe me, running on snow and ice is at least twice as difficult as running on dry ground. Each team had two km of using snowshoes while pulling a sled and a final one km run up a hill to the pit stop. No wonder they were all about ready to die by the end of the leg.

- Bunching point at the start for obvious reasons and little interaction between the teams made for a lousy filming episode. They meant well, but Nunavut isn't ideal for reality TV.

- This week, I'm in Nova Scotia and today I have plans to go to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg, locales that will be featured on next week's episode. I know exactly which church it is in Mahone Bay that was shown in the previews so will go and see what the local reaction is to having the show go through there and if the town is planning any sort of celebration or whatnot. I looked in the Halifax paper last night to see if there was any mention of the Nova Scotia leg of the race that is about to be aired on TV, but this was the only mention from May: http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1130907-lunenburg-s-amazing-cameo

I dropped in at the church and the visitor's centre across the street from there while I was in Mahone Bay to see if there were any sort of recognition or celebration of the episode to come - didn't see anything at all, and actually one person at the visitor's centre said "It's just a rumour, we don't know anything about it" despite the fact that it's been reported in the news and all. Oh well.

Really enjoyed watching this episode on TV - as soon as they said that they'd be driving manual transmission, I immediately knew it would be a fun episode. Halifax and Lunenburg are most certainly *not* for the faint of the heart if you're a novice manual driver. The route between Halifax and Lunenburg is also where my father lives and where I've spent almost every summer in my childhood and young adult life, so that added to the fun for me.

Anyhoo... on to the episode.

Start in Iqaluit and the clue tells the four remaining teams to hie their way to Halifax via Ottawa. Warning, U-Turn ahead. Something interesting at the Ottawa airport that I thought wasn't allowed - Jody/Cory decided to leave one backpack and some stuff stashed away in a locker (just so happens that one of the brothers live in Ottawa) - weren't one of the teams forced to go back and get their backpacks when they showed up at the pit stop without them within sight of the mat in an earlier episode? So why are Jody/Cory being allowed to do this when the girls weren't? Huge swing in the game's dynamics if allowed because it allowed Jody to not be bogged down with the weight of the backpack.

Back to the airport... bunching point, of course, since it's flight coming in from Iqaluit. Once in Halifax, teams are to pick up a car, stuff an USB into the drive, and watch a video to tell them their next clue, which turns out to be a little trip to Pier 21 via the steep streets of downtown Halifax's waterfront. Cue the hysterics from the sisters who don't know how to drive a stick (not to be confused with riding one, something I assume they're familiar with). Of course, production helps them out by yet another bunching point at the museum which doesn't open until 6 am the next morning.

Once inside, they get to act out their inner children by using passports to collect 7 stamps then get told "Welcome to Canada" along with their next clue - really, that's the best they could have done with this alleged 'challenge'? They should have made it more challenging by doing something like memorizing 7 immigrant names and then finding the right stamp to match each name in the museum.

Clue tells them to hop back into the car and work their way UP the steep hills of downtown Halifax to get to Mahone Bay. Lovely little town, y'all should visit there some day. At the Anglican church, they arrive at the Roadblock.

Roadblock: Find Their Long Lost Twin. This is happening during the annual Scarecrow Festival and they get a Blackberry Z10 which shows them the scarecrow they're supposed to find along the main street, then bring it back to the gazebo and dress a second scarecrow to exactly match the first one, then take a picture and see if the judge accepts the match.

After doing the Roadblock, clue tells them to go to the Fisheries Museum in Lunenburg - if you've ever seen the iconic picture of the colourful town of Lunenburg as taken from the other side of the bay, it's the bright red buildings in the front. Here's the Detour.

Detour: Surf (catch and band 6 lobsters, deliver to chef at restaurant) or Turf (memorize 12 different German sausages, identify them by name/taste). I'd go for the lobsters any time, they're fun to do.

Jody/Cory and Jet/Dave go to war with the lobsters as these buggers are snapping and gripping onto the cages, while the girls and the Timmies go for the sausages.

Next clue tells them to go to the historic St. John's church, where there's a Double U-Turn waiting for them. None of the teams elect to use the U-Turns. Next clue is in a wooden box and it's empty except for a dime, no other info given. This is where it gets interesting - while I wasn't surprised the nitwit sisters didn't have a clue what to do with the coin, I was surprised the Timmies didn't know what the boat was on the coin. Come on, everyone in Canada is supposed to know about the Bluenose! Turn in your citizenships, guys.

For those of you south of the border (and across the pond, Starshine), the Canadian dime has a picture of the famed Bluenose schooner - and Lunenburg is where the original Bluenose and its replica Bluenose II were built, and the second is still docked there in Lunenburg and is being used as the pit stop for this episode.

At the pit stop:

1. Jody/Cory (win a trip anywhere that Air Canada flies to in South America)2. Timmies3. Jet/Dave4. Vanessa/Celina

... and the sisters are saved because it's a double leg and they all get clues to continue racing without a break. The clue tells them to make their way to St. John's, Newfoundland. Judging from the previews, it seems they might be taking a ferry - if so, it's a LONG drive ahead for the girls while using the stick. The hills of Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail are going to be a delight. I expect they'll be catching a flight, though, and the ferry will come into play somewhere else in the next episode or maybe in the finale on their way to Toronto.

I'm with you Pepe, identifying (and remembering the names of) 12 sausages seemed like a really hard task, although I was surprised at the issues the dudes seemed to have with the lobsters.

So it was really Bluenose III that they visited?

I love Bluenose as a nickname!

Almost 1000 miles does seem a little long for a driving task, I can't see the producers allowing it although I don't remember any US racers being stopped for speeding it happens quite frequently in TARA and TAROZ plus the temptation to keep driving when you are too tired to concentrate would surely make it just too dangerous

its replica Bluenose II were built, and the second is still docked there in Lunenburg and is being used as the pit stop for this episode.

No, it's the Bluenose II that is there at the docks of Lunenburg currently being docked, and it's about to go back into the waters this Friday after three years of being refitted and rebuilt to make seaworthy again. There's no Bluenose III.

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